Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God

"In this book Greta Christina tackles the subject of death with the insight of a philosopher and the relaxed candor of a friend — that really cool, intelligent friend who understands and cares."
-David Niose, author of Fighting Back the Right: Reclaiming America from the Attack on Reason

Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God by Greta Christina -- available now!

Coming Out Atheist

“"Witty, wise, helpful, and humane, this clear and engaging book is most timely.”
-Phil Zuckerman, Ph.D., author of Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion

Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why by Greta Christina -- available now in ebook, print, and audiobook!

I Support Atheism Plus!

Atheists plus we care about social justice.
Atheists plus we support women’s rights.
Atheists plus we protest racism.
Atheists plus we fight homophobia and transphobia.
Atheists plus we use critical thinking and skepticism.

EVENTS

Carnival of the Godless #85: The Regular Version

Welcome to the Carnival of the Godless #85! In honor of Valentine’s Day, I decided to do a dirty version of this week’s Carnival. But for those of you who prefer your atheist ranting unadulterated by vintage pulp fiction cover art, I’m also offering this non-dirty version of the Carnival. Here it is. Enjoy!

From The Headsman at Executed Today: 1512: Hatuey, defied Spanish colonization. An account of the execution of the Taino Indian cacique Hatuey, a resistor of Spanish colonialism both political and religious. “They have a God whom they greatly adore and love; and to make us adore Him they strive to subjugate us and take our lives.” Alas, as The Headmans points out, “Hatuey had a trenchant critique. The Spanish had the guns.”

From James Grant at James Grant’s Livejournal: Speaking from the mount, Drunk. We have been lied to from birth, and other words of wisdom. James Robin, who sent the link, summarizes it thus: “He says he was drunk when he wrote this. Me? I say he’s speaking with a clarity we should all enjoy.”

From Dave McRitchie at The View from Here: Possessed by demons? Satan got ya? Who ya gonna call? The answer? The Catholic Church. Sez Dave: “The Vatican has recently ordered bishops to form teams of priests in each diocese trained to fight demonic possession.” Recently. As in the 21st century.

From The Whited Sepulchre: Downs Syndrome Victims and Victims of God’s Will. The Sepulchre discusses the recent Baghdad suicide bombing — or, more accurately in this case, homicide bombing — in which the bombers strapped explosives to two women with Down syndrome and detonated the explosives by remote control. Mr. Sepulchre asks, “If there is a Higher Power who is going to split humanity into eternal heaven and eternal hell categories, not for actions but for beliefs, are there any crimes in support of these beliefs that can’t be justified?”

And from The Whited Sepulchre again: People are going to hell. This time, The Sepulchre talks about the Christian notion of hell — and the disconnect of believing it, and yet not devoting the entirety of your life to saving people from it. “If a house was on fire and you knew that there were children inside that you could safely remove from the burning house, would you not do everything in your power to get the kids out? Would inconvenience be an adequate excuse? Lack of training? Not feeling ‘called’ to be a fireman?”

From A.C. Chase at Alexander the Atheist: God of the Gaps, Ignorance. In which Alexander admits that he doesn’t know everythingâŠ and presents this as a strength rather than a weakness. And he points out that, as frustrating as the phenomenon can be for non-believers, “this ‘God of the Gaps’ is a direct response to the efforts of science and logic, which have been chipping away at the power of both God and religion for hundreds of years.”

From Mike White, at Life According to Mike White: Beyond the Senses. The Eucharist, and other beliefs that contradict reason and the senses. Mike sez: “With any form of religious belief there is a situation in which an individual must go beyond the senses in order to gain the spiritual satisfaction they are looking for. Irrationality cannot be an option behind belief.”

From Holly Ord at Menstrual Poetry: What the Religious Right Wants, the Religious Right Gets. Breathe easy, everyone — the words “In God We Trust” will soon be larger and more readable on U.S. coins. Sez Holly: “And here I thought that the main point of money was to exchange them for goods or services, not to parade what religion a country is trying to shove down the throats of its citizens.”

From No More Mr. Nice Guy!: Ding Dong The Wicked God is Dead. With no God, what is the alternative to absolute morality? How do we avoid arbitrariness? NMMNG says that ethics need not be imposed top-down; they can develop from the bottom up. In other words, ethics evolved.

From Spanish Inquisitor: Christian Perception. On the question of the historical Jesus. More specifically, on debates over the question of the historical Jesus. Even more specifically, on the large disconnect between what atheists and theists perceive when they read the same thing.

From Dale at faith in honest doubt: Ghosts Con Carne. If demonic possession were real, wouldn’t it undercut the concept of free will — both ethically and legally? Sez Dale: “This is one of the many areas where the non-overlapping magisteria approach is revealed as the piece of wishful thinking it is.”

From Tom Foss at Dubito Ergo Sum: What Kind of God Would You Be? Laws of physics be damned — if you were an omnipotent being, what would you do? Eliminate suffering? Manwiches from Heaven? Snow in the summer? Tom considers all these possibilities, and more.

From Mental Gymnastics at An Insane Existence: Doubly Scrutinized: The Black Atheist. On trying to be a freethinker in the African-American communityâŠ and an African-American in the freethinker community.

From The 327th Male: Oh shit, Iâve been giving theists money. On trying to be an atheist in the grocery storeâŠ and at the breakfast table. Mr. Male tries to “ensure the separation of church and my money.”

From Stephen Thomas at Rational Apologetics: Prayer to God Doesn’t Work. On… well, on why prayer to God doesn’t work. With many well-marshalled arguments, and a nifty video about worshiping milk jugs.

From vjack at Atheist Revolution: America’s Evolution Denial. More Americans believe in the devil than Darwin. Why is this important, what causes it, and what can we in the reality-based community do about it?

From Kelly OâConnor at The Atheist Response: Humans Do Not Need to Comfort Themselves With Fairy Tales. A response to the argument that people need religion… regardless of whether it’s true. “Atheism is not the destruction of the quest for meaning — it is the necessary starting point for the journey.”

From A.C. Chase at Alexander the Atheist: Why Mike Huckabee Hates America. Quote: “These are all positions that Huckabee takes in his hatred of America: he hates civil rights, he hates states’ rights, he hates homosexuals and he hates our secular Constitution, which has been good enough to sustain our country for centuries but now does not meet Huckabee’s religious standards.”

From C. L. Hanson at Letters from a broad…: Who is the sexiest atheist blogger?. A poll to gather opinions on the most pressing and controversial question in the atheosphere today. (Your Carnival host is one of the nominees, so modesty forbids me from saying much about this piece. Except to point out that I am, after all, hosting the first ever Dirty Version of the Carnival of the Godless. I’m just sayin’, is all.)

From Ron Britton at Bay of Fundie: Love Letter from Mike. Ron analyzes a fundraising letter from Mike Huckabee… with a chainsaw. “If Huckabee truly cared about any of us, he never would have entered the race.”

From Alonzo Fyfe at Atheist Ethicist: The Ultimatum Game. Humanist ethics. On the ultimatum game, and why it actually is reasonable, even self-interested, to reward fairness and punish unfairness in others… even if it means making personal sacrifices.

And again from Alonzo at Atheist Ethicist: On Scouts and Lies. Is it morally acceptable for an atheist to lie about their atheism — and to teach their children to do the same — to gain advantage or balance the scales in a situation where theists have an unfair upper hand?

From The Ridger at The Greenbelt: I’ll make up for it, okay? Why God cares enough about the Super Bowl to kill the quarterback’s mother. No, I am not making this up, and neither is The Ridger.

And finally, from your charming hostess herself, Greta Christina here at Greta Christina’s Blog: The Content of Their Character: Judging On the Basis Of Beliefs. Supposedly it’s not right to judge people for what they believe. So what the hell else am I supposed to judge people on? What basis are we supposed to use to judge people, if not their beliefs?

Thus concludes this edition of the Carnival of the Godless. If you blog about godlessness and want to participate in the next Carnival, here’s the submission form. Thanks, and may Loki be with you!